What If the UK Had Shut as Quickly as NZ?
“The UK’s physical isolation sets it apart from its continental neighbours, but could its island status have protected it from the full horror of Covid-19, had it closed borders in early 2020, as New…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Chef Analiese Gregory Revels in Tasmanian Wild
New Zealand-born chef Analiese Gregory, 36, tells the Financial Times “why she turned her back on the world’s chicest restaurants to set up home – and a kitchen – at the edge of the…
Stunt Royal Zoë Bell Embracing Collaboration
It’s been 20 years since New Zealander Zoë Bell arrived in Los Angeles, where she soon took her stunt double career to another level. The Waiheke Island-native made her name after the iconic stunt collaboration…
LA Gallery Owner Blown Away by Emma McIntyre
Auckland-born artist Emma McIntyre’s first show out of New Zealand, ‘Pour plenty on the worlds’, is now on in Los Angeles at Chris Sharp Gallery, the new establishment’s debut show. Sharp, who co-curated the New…
Singer Sarah Mary Chadwick Says It All on New Album
On the launch of her new album, Me and Ennui Are Friends, Baby, New Zealand-born Melbourne-based singer Sarah Mary Chadwick “interrogates the forensic intimacy and specificity of her songs”. Jenny Valentish interviews Chadwick for…
There’s Extreme Tension Coming Home in the Dark
“The enormity of nature hits you like a freight train in the early scenes of James Ashcroft’s taut and sinewy first feature, Coming Home in the Dark,” David Rooney writes in a…
New Zealanders in Wintry Berlin Cope with Covid
Artist Ruth Buchanan is one of a number of New Zealanders “holed up” in Berlin, “in the middle of a long, dreary Covid winter”. Former DJ Emma Jean Gilkson, writing for The Spinoff, is…
Sun Journalist Dan Wootton Heads to GB News
Lower Hutt-born Dan Wootton, 37, the Sun journalist who broke the story of “Megxit”, is leaving to present a daily show on GB News and write for Mail Online, Amol Rajan reports in a…
Exeloo Named America’s Best Public Toilet
The West Auckland-designed and manufactured Exeloo unit was named top toilet at the inaugural Best Restroom in America awards, which were held in November, Esther Taunton reports for Stuff. The “touchless” toilet was the subject…
Tourism NZ Pleads End to Socially-Influenced Pics
New Zealand is really bored of your Instagram posts, Rob Picheta writes for CNN. The country has launched a new tourism campaign, urging travellers to stop mimicking photos they see online and “share something…
Elizabeth Knox’s The Absolute Book Wry and Precise
New Zealand author Elizabeth Knox’s 2019 novel, The Absolute Book, is reviewed alongside UK-based Everina Maxwell’s Winter’s Orbit, by Canadian writer Amal El-Mohtar for The New York Times. “Here are two novels that are, in some ways, opposites:…
Comedian Rose Matafeo’s 2021 is Shaping Up
With an acclaimed romcom, one-off HBO special and a new sitcom out this year, 2021 is looking good for New Zealand-born rising comic, Rose Matafeo, who is based in the UK. NME’s George Fenwick recently…
Grazia Publishes Daniel Ido’s Take on Auckland
From the smell of the sea to mountainous ranges, there is no secret Auckland is a unique city. Drawing inspiration from his hometown, US-based Grazia guest editor and artist Daniel Ido frames exactly what…
Fifa Exec Sarai Bareman Understands the Margins
From her time as a player on the Samoan women’s national team to becoming deputy secretary general of the tiny Oceania Football Confederation, few people are better suited to addressing the challenges faced by…
Popular Film Baby Done Released in UK
With New Zealand-made film Baby Done just released on digital platforms throughout the UK, the BBC’s Emma Jones writes about the film’s star, Rose Matafeo, and how the film explores misgivings about motherhood. Matafeo, 28,…
RuPaul’s Drag Race Heads Down Under
Emmy-winning production company World of Wonder is bringing RuPaul’s drag queen reality series to New Zealand and Australia, and it will be appropriately titled RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, Dino-Ray Ramos reports for Deadline. RuPaul…
New Zealand Tops Lowy List with Covid Response
New analysis undertaken by Australian think tank the Lowy Institute has found that New Zealand has handled the coronavirus pandemic more effectively than any other country in the world, Stephen Dziedzic reports for ABC…
Local Creatives On Navigating a Post-Covid World
In a recent online i-D magazine article, young New Zealand creatives – including photographer Apela Bell (pictured), designer Charlotte Jennings, and performers Benee and Teeks – explain to readers “what it looks like on…
German Publication Has High Praise for PM
For its January 2021 issue, the German magazine View has declared Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern the “best politician in the world” and features the 39-year-old on the cover, with the words: “She defeated coronavirus…
Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home
Writing for Atlas Obscura, Ye Charlotte Ming has taken an in-depth look at the ongoing process of repatriation of Maori remains from international museums, quoting poet and musician Hinemoana Baker, researcher Amber Aranui and…
Filmmaker Charlotte Larsen On Her Latest Projects
US-based Charlotte Larsen, 38, is poised to become a household name. The New Zealand native has found success as a producer and actress on popular films like Gloria and Great Expectations. She is currently…
Monique Bossie Puts Fashion into Rashies
New Zealand-born Monique Bossie is the brains behind Kin Swim, one of a growing number of brands reinventing the rashie to combat a problem all Australians encounter – the harsh sun, Stephanie McKenna writes…
Artist Simon Denny Reflects on Berlin Art Programme
Co-founder of the Berlin Program for Artists (BPA) New Zealand-born Simon Denny, 39, (pictured right) explains why artists are essential to the fabric of Germany’s capital city in an article for UK art magazine, Frieze. “When…
Is Letterboxd Becoming a Blockbuster?
Early last decade, Matthew Buchanan (pictured right) and Karl von Randow, web designers based in Auckland, were seeking a passion project, Calum Marsh writes for The New York Times. Their business, a boutique web…
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta Charts a Course
The first Māori woman to be foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta is an experienced lawmaker known for her deep roots in Māori tribal diplomacy, Charlotte Graham-McLay writes for The Washington Post. Mahuta has her work…
Graeme James Revives Lost Art of Shipwreck Song
“It’s been a while since” anything like “a gripping seafaring-disaster song” has “come along, but to that list we can now add ‘The Voyage of the James Caird’ by New Zealand singer-songwriter Graeme James,”…
London Tattooist Nikole Lowe Inks Wallpaper
New Zealand-born tattooist Nikole Lowe, 47, who lives in London and runs studio, Good Times Tattoo, has taken her skills in a new direction – wallpaper design. After the studio was closed by Covid-19,
Shearing World Record Broken by Megan Whitehead
Gore shearer Megan Whitehead, 24, recently took on a nine-hour-long challenge officiated by the World Sheep Shearing Records Society, shearing 661 strong wool lambs in the time period to beat the previous solo women’s…
Emerging Actor Nathalie Morris Plays Teen Parent
“Every few years, a tabloid story pops up about a teenager who didn’t know she was pregnant until she started giving birth. We never really hear about what happens next. The new Australian series…
New Zealand’s Sophie Devine scores 36-ball hundred, fastest-ever in women’s T20 cricket
Less than a month after being named in the ICC’s Women’s T20 Team of the Decade, New Zealand captain Sophie Devine has made headlines again by smashing the fastest-ever Women’s T20 hundred with a…
Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks a Slam Dunk
General manager of basketball team the Brooklyn Nets, New Zealander Sean Marks, 45, ended up getting the job and producing a miracle turnaround while transforming Brooklyn into a prime destination that superstars Kevin Durant and…
Our Covid Response the Best of a Bad Year
Covid may have made 2020 a year to forget, but amid the gloom there were plenty of positive moments, with countries like New Zealand and led by women having “systematically and significantly better” Covid-19…
Time to Reimagine Symbols of Identity
“What’s with those jandals, hokey pokey ice-creams, buzzy bees, Swanndris and gumboots? Far from being random and unrelated objects, these icons of so-called Kiwiana tell a story of late 20th-century nostalgia at a moment…
That Looks Like a Digitalised 90s Catalogue
It was in The Mount as it’s known to locals, that model Becca Haeger launched what would become That Looks, which according to Zoë Kendall, reporting for Britain’s i-D magazine, presents as a shoppable…
Manukura a Blessing and a Unifying Symbol
Manukura, a rare, snow-white kiwi that inspired a children’s book and was the first of its kind ever hatched in captivity has died at the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre after multiple surgeries to remove…
World’s Top-Ranked Team Shaped by Kane Williamson
“After beating Pakistan by an innings and 176 runs in the second Test of a series they swept 2-0, New Zealand (a country with the total population around half that of London, and a…
Benee Makes DIY’s Class of 2021
Riding high off the back of megahit ‘Superlonely’ and her recent celeb-featuring full-length debut LP, Hey u x, Benee’s already done the hard bit – now she’s ready to reap the rewards, Elly Watson…
Thomasin McKenzie Poised to Dominate 2021
“Even in a year free from Hollywood’s typical machinations – red carpets, fall festivals, movie theatres – stars could still be made seemingly overnight,” Keaton Bell writes for Vogue. “Here’s our rundown of 15…
Contact Tracing Company SaferMe Focuses on US
Wellington-based contact tracing technology provider SaferMe, which played a role in helping New Zealand bring COVID-19 case counts down to zero, is setting its sights on Texas and the North American market, Dom DiFurio…
Cooee Keeping Tour Guides in Virtual Business
Cooee, a travel platform developed in New Zealand, is finding ways to keep tour guides in business during the pandemic – and let people get a view of somewhere besides their own house, Adele…
Peter Jackson Astonishes With Beatles Documentary
“In a brilliant move, the Beatles him to work on the 56 hours of…
Learning Te Reo Māori Is Where It’s At
New Zealanders of all stripes are signing up to learn te reo Māori, according to Amy Gunia reporting for TIME magazine. Gunia writes that experts say over the last five or so years, the…
Culinary Leader Ben Shewry Shines a Light
Given Melbourne thinks of itself as Australia’s food capital, its double lockdown was particularly identity-shaking. Luckily, one of the city’s culinary leaders, New Zealand-born chef and restaurateur Ben Shewry, stood tirelessly tall and stayed…
Rachel House Counts Souls in Pixar’s Latest Outing
Auckland-born actor Rachel House, 49, is the voice of Terry, a Great Beyond “soul counter” in Pixar’s latest animated comedy-drama, Soul. House recorded remotely for the film from New Zealand, which also stars Jamie…
Tech Sector Humming with Mergers and Acquisitions
Specialist in the tech area, Mark Clare of Wellington’s Clare Capital, said the level of mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and general advisory work in the industry was busier than he had ever seen…
Weta Digital Looks to Become Content Producer
At a time when much of Hollywood is reeling from Covid-19, Weta Digital, the Wellington visual-effects company behind Avatar and Avengers: Endgame, is looking to pull a growth story out of its magic hat,…
Rocket Lab Launches Sixth Successful Mission of ‘20
Rocket Lab USA Inc. has completed another mission sending a satellite into space aboard one of the New Zealand-founded company’s Electron launch vehicles, Elijah Chiland reports for the Los Angeles Business Journal. It was…
Marlon Williams’ Records with Saskatoon Soulmates
On tour a couple of years ago in Europe, Christchurch-born musician Marlon Williams was travelling with his band when Canadian folk duo Kacy and Clayton popped up on the radio. Williams knew instantly that…
Martin Henderson Isn’t Just Jack From Virgin River
Auckland-born actor Martin Henderson, 46, stars in Netflix series, Virgin River as the love interest of Mel Monroe played by Alexandra Breckenridge – “who moves to the tiny titular town in hopes of escaping…
Canada-Based Builder Rob Parsons Lauded
New Zealander Rob Parsons a Victoria, Canada contractor known for building high-end homes and for integrity in his business dealings has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Victoria Residential Builders Association in recognition…
How Our Film Industry Boomed During the Pandemic
Thanks to its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand is enjoying an unprecedented boom in film production, with directors seeking safe conditions, and that most elusive thing this year – a normal life,…
David Howell Talks Architecture with Ralph Pucci
New York New Zealander David Howell and his wife and business partner Steffani Aarons talk architecture and design on the podcast of renowned American designer, gallery owner and entrepreneur Ralph Pucci. Asked by Pucci…
US TV Host Stephen Colbert Revisits 2019 NZ Trip
Stephen Colbert, host of US television’s The Late Show, has shared footage from his 2019 travels to New Zealand on a recent episode, including a Lord of the Rings-themed adventure and bungee jumping off a…
Richie McCaw World Rugby Player of the Decade
New Zealand’s two-time Rugby World Cup-winning captain Richie McCaw has been named men’s player of the decade by World Rugby, Reuters reports in an article published online by The Guardian. McCaw, 39, who led…
Kiwi YouTube gaming comedy trio levels up
New Zealand-based YouTube comedy trio Viva La Dirt League – which is behind popular video game skit series like Epic NPC Man and Game Logic – has signed with Creative Artists…
Unilever NZ to follow lead of Perpetual Guardian to Trial 4-day Work Week
Unilever New Zealand will be trialling a four day workweek for one year, representing a fundamental change in the way the company views their workforce, reports Azi Paybarah for The New York Times. All 81…
